Matte or glossy?

[Grandpa Ron]

Back when I was younger and dinosaurs roamed the earth, we worked with matte finished papers because we did not have polished heat drums in our basement darkrooms for glossy prints. They were of course black and white or sepia toned.

Today inkjet printing has replaced all that but I am curious how many use matte and how many use glossy for their black and white prints.

 

[OldManJim]

For me, it depends on the image and what I'm trying to convey. I'd say 80% of my images are printed on matte; the rest on glossy.

 

[Jeff G]

I consider where the image will be placed. If it is an area that may catch harsh light reflections I would stick with a matte finish. If you don't have to worry about reflective light and the Image screams for a glossy paper go for it.

Some images lend themselves better to matt finishes think rustic photos, others look nicer on gloss, think modern chrome and glass architecture.

 

[Jeff15]

Depends on the image........

 

[Fujidave]

Back when I was younger and dinosaurs roamed the earth, we worked with matte finished papers because we did not have polished heat drums in our basement darkrooms for glossy prints. They were of course black and white or sepia toned.

Today inkjet printing has replaced all that but I am curious how many use matte and how many use glossy for their black and white prints.

When I print my own I will use both glossy and matte.

 

[bribrius]

Matte or lustre. What is glossy?

 

[Grandpa Ron]

Glossy is what HP calls their photo printer paper. Glossy is what Freestyle sells for black and white photograph paper. Glossy is what we called the shiny surface of photo prints.

Luster is what some advertising man called a variation on the type of glossy.

 

[webestang64]

I still use a darkroom and love Ilford's Pearl RC Portfolio paper. For ink jet I go with Lustre.

 

[chasgroh]

...when *I'm* printing I gravitate towards matte, mostly because I'm in love with Hahnemuhle Bamboo paper. I have been working on framed canvas pieces where I do the framing and have a not-so-normal, angular, method that makes it really hard to photograph...so no shiny stuff here, either! But anything metallic pretty much needs/produces gloss and I like that, too. Short answer; depends on the image *and* the application/presentation.